


Stars that Shine as Bright as Our Promise

by artimus13



Series: Shuake Week 2020 [1]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Angst, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Getting Together, Hope, I'm Bad At Tagging, M/M, Persona 5: The Royal Spoilers, Shuake Week 2020, Stars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-09 23:55:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27614486
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/artimus13/pseuds/artimus13
Summary: Shuake Week 2020Day 1: Hope and Stars“Settle down children. Today, we’re all going to be making wish stars! A wish star is something that you make. Once you're done making it, you’ll give it to someone very special to you and make a wish with them. You can also think of it as making a promise with that person, and after you make it, you give your wish star to that person for them to keep and remember your wish by.”Well, Akira already knew he was going to give his to Goro, so now it was time to make his wish star look nice for the other boy.orAkira and Goro meet at a young age and continue to remember their promise throughout their lives.
Relationships: Akechi Goro/Amamiya Ren, Akechi Goro/Kurusu Akira, Akechi Goro/Persona 5 Protagonist
Series: Shuake Week 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2018972
Comments: 2
Kudos: 56





	Stars that Shine as Bright as Our Promise

**Author's Note:**

> haha guess who's late to shuake week! but happy shuake week everyone I'll catch up eventually!
> 
> Anyway I went with the prompts of hope and stars for day one (hope got mainly turned into promises but were just gonna ignore that one-)

Akira was bored in his class. It was an average day with the sunlight streaming through the 2nd grade classroom and directly onto his desk so that he couldn’t quite see the work the teacher had put in front of him. 

They were supposed to be working in partners, but Akira never spoke to the others in class much, so he was left to solve the math on his own. He thought the teacher might do something about his lack of a  friend partner, but his hopes were dashed when all of his classmates got settled with each other and the teacher went back over to her desk.

‘ _ I could just not do this… _ ’ Akira lazily thought to himself. 

“Um excuse me, but do you have a…partner?” Akira turned his head up at the person who had just come to his desk.

The small boy looked about his own age, but most likely a little bit older than him. He had chestnut hair and reddish eyes. Akira thought he looked nice, but he did also look a little skinny to Akira. It could be his imagination though.

“I...I don’t have a partner,” the other boy continued on since Akira had yet to answer, “If it would be okay with you would you like to be my partner?”

Akira didn’t want to be mean and turn the other down after he had taken his time to come over here. Plus, the boy looked very uncomfortable after stuttering out that he wanted to work with Akira.

“I don’t have a problem with it, but I don’t know your name, and that might make it hard to work together if we don’t know each other’s names.”

“Oh! Yes my name is Goro Akechi, and your name is Akira right?”

The other boy had an expression of shock and happiness on his face when he heard that Akira decided to take his offer, but he also looked a bit embarrassed at having forgotten to introduce himself. But more importantly…

“Woah! How did you know my name Goro?” Akira was very impressed that someone in the class actually knew his name without him having to tell the for the fifth time in a day, and he was even more surprised that someone who had never approached him knew his name.

“Well…” Goro seemed to consider something for a moment before responding to Akira, “Do you want to know a secret Akira?”

Akira nodded.

“I’m actually a mind reader.”

The shock on Akira’s face must have been very visible because Goro broke out into a fit of giggles at his response.

“I’m only j-joking! I just read your name t-tag!”

Akira realized that his name tag was very much in view for the other boy to see, and he then joined Goro in his fit of giggles.

‘ _ I think we’re gonna get along well! _ ’ Akira happily thought to himself.

***

From then on, Akira’s prediction had become true.

He and Goro became best friends. They played games with each other at recess, and sometimes (if Goro’s mother allowed it), Goro would come over to his house to play and spend the night. 

The one night that Goro had spent over had been one of the best nights of Akira’s life. They had built a pillow fort that they both slept in, and they also played games outside. Akira’s favorite had been one where he would hide something from Goro, and Goro had to find it. Akira was always amazed at how good Goro was at that, and every time Akira thought he had a good hiding spot, Goro would find the object in less than 10 minutes.

Now though, they were both back in class with their teacher telling them about their next project that they had to work on.

“Settle down children. Today, we’re all going to be making wish stars!” 

Most of the class, including Akira, were very confused about what a wish star was.

“A wish star is something that you make,” their teacher continued on, “Once you're done making it, you’ll give it to someone very special to you and make a wish with them. You can also think of it as making a promise with that person, and after you make it, you give your wish star to that person for them to keep and remember your wish by.”

Well, Akira already knew he was going to give his to Goro, so now it was time to make his wish star look nice for the other boy. He decided to draw some cats on it (since they were his favorite and he always wanted one), and he also decided to try and draw some of their characters from Featherman. Akira’s favorite was Grey Pigeon and Goro’s was Red Hawk, so Akira tried his best to make sure Goro would recognize them. 

Once they were out for recess, he went over to where he and Goro normally played. Akira sat under the big shady tree until Goro showed up, and he almost tackled the other boy with his excitement to give him his wish star. 

“Goro, I’ve been waiting!” Akira said while trying to get his wish star out of his pocket, “Let’s make a wish together. I wanna give my wish star to you!”

He saw Goro’s face redden in slight embarrassment at the excitedness that he was showing, but Akira didn’t particularly care. He just wanted to make a promise with Goro that would never be broken!

“That’s funny,” Goro said pulling something out of his pocket, “I wanted to give mine to you too Akira.”

Akira could feel the large smile that was already on his face get even bigger when he heard that Goro had the same idea as him. He was so happy that he did end up tackling Goro over with a hug. 

“Gah! Akira we haven’t even made the wish yet!”

“Yeah, but doesn’t both of us having each other’s stars make our wish stronger, so we gotta think of a really good wish Goro!”

“Okay...did you have any ideas because I hadn’t really thought of any.”

“Oh I guess I hadn’t either.”

The two of them ended up sitting under the tree for a while before Goro spoke up again with an idea.

“What if we promise to always be friends? Even if we can’t see each other for some reason, we can always promise that we’ll be friends and somehow find each other again.” 

“I mean I wouldn’t ever stop being your friend Goro, but I like the sound of it. I really like the idea of being best friends with you forever no matter what happens to us!”

“Then it’s a promise!” Goro said while holding out his wish star along with extending his pinky finger towards Akira. 

“It’ll be a promise we always keep!” Akira said while mirroring Goro’s actions and linking his pinky finger with his as he gave Goro his star. 

The promise was put to the test faster than both of them could have thought. 

Akira showed up to school the next day only to see Goro there, but it was a Saturday and Goro could have just been sick. Goro also didn’t show up Monday or Tuesday, so Akira decided to ask the teacher where Goro had gone.

“Oh Akira, Goro had to move away because of a...a death in his family. I know it’s hard and scary to understand, but-“

Akira had stopped listening because that didn’t make sense. The only person that Goro ever talked about in his family was his mom.

Oh.

Akira could feel tears welling up in his eyes not only for the loss of his best friend, but also for what Goro had lost. 

The only thing that kept the tears from falling was the knowledge and hope in the promise that they made to always be friends and that one day they would both meet each other again. 

***

The hope in the promise that he and Goro made all those years ago was what helped him to get through getting arrested on false charges. It helped him when he moved to Tokyo to know that he still had someone on his side that didn’t turn his back on it. He knew it was childish to remember a promise made when they were kids, but Akira didn’t really care. He even still had the star that Goro had made for him all those years ago. 

When he decided to go to the TV station for a field trip with Ryuji and Ann, the last thing he expected was for their promise to be fulfilled when he saw a familiar face round the corner of the hallway of the TV station.

“Excuses me are you studen-“ Akira saw the other boys face go wide with shock, and Akira was sure that his looked the same. Goro’s face seemed to go back into a pleasant smile after a second though.

“Fancy seeing you here Akira.” Goro said with a charming look on his face, but Akira could see the smugness behind it.

“Come on Goro! I haven’t seen you for forever, and that’s the first thing you say to me. If I wasn’t so happy to see you again, I might be a little offended right now.”

Ann and Ryuji both looked very confused at the interaction, and Akira was sure that Morgana was also very confused at what has happening, but Akira ignored them for now in favor of talking to Goro after all, their wish had come true and they had been able to see each other again!

Well, Akira was almost sure that Goro didn’t actually remember their promise from years ago, but that was okay even if a little part of Akira ached thinking that the other had forgotten their promise. 

“What are you even doing here Goro? Are you some kind of star celebrity?”

“Well, star celebrity might be giving me a bit too much credit, but I was just wrapping up a TV appearance, and I’m currently on my way to another one that starts in…” Goro trailed off and checked his watch, “a little less three minutes! I should be on my way.”

“We should exchange numbers. I don’t want to lose you again after all of these years of not knowing where you went.”

“Ah yes I should have thought of that!”

They quickly exchanged numbers, and Goro went on his way.

“Akira. Kurusu. You didn’t tell me that you knew  _ the  _ detective prince Goro Akechi!” Ann stated still in shock of what she had seen.

“To my defense, I didn’t know he was a detective prince in the first place.”

The next day though, Akira got to see the detective prince side of Goro that he had just learned about the day prior. He got to have an exciting conversation about the justice of stealing hearts and changing corrupt minds, and sure Goro didn’t agree with the methods of the Phantom Thieves’ justice and Akira was a little hurt by that, but Goro didn’t know that Akira was the leader of the Phantom Thieves, so Akira didn’t take the distaste from the other boy too personally.

It was only when Goro had invited him out for a night in Kichijoji to catch up did he realize how much and how little Goro had changed over time. The other was still wonderful company, and they even expanded their friendship to rivalry after Akira had lost one too many games of darts and billiards against Goro while he was using his right hand, but Akira couldn’t help but feel that something was wrong.

Goro still seemed himself, but there was something beneath the surface of the charming detective that Goro was projecting to the world. Every time Akita would try and ask him something about why he left school so suddenly all those years ago or try and get Goro to give him a glimpse of what was under the surface of his act, the other boy would just laugh and fluster Akira with some comment about how he was so interesting or something similar.

Akira found out what Goro was hiding between bits and pieces of their conversation, but he got the full picture once he overheard the phone conversation that Goro had had with a man named Shido. 

Goro was planning on killing Akira and making it look like Akira committed suicide.

He didn’t get out of his bed for most of that Sunday, and when he eventually did, it was after a whole day of coaxing and comforting from Morgana.

Akira didn’t know why they were here. Why they were both in an engine room in the heart of Goro’s bastard of a father, but now they were being forced to fight each other for real now. Akira, for once, didn’t take satisfaction in his victory over Goro.

“Goro,” Akira pleaded with the other boy that was struggling to stand up from the ground, “I just want to go back to how things were. I don’t want to fight you as an enemy; I want to battle you as a rival and a friend.”

“Why? What have I done to deserve your pity Kurusu,” The use of his last name hurt, “I tried to kill you so you should do the same to me. It’s only fair right?”

“Why can’t you just listen to what I’ve been saying! I don’t-“ Akira got interrupted by a cognitive Goro that Shido’s wicked mind thought up. The fake Goro started to give a monolong to all that were present, but then he drew a gun on Goro and Akira could feel his own body go stiff. He wasn’t afraid when Goro pointed a gun at him (something in Akira’s heart still had faith in Goro and the promises they had made), but Akira almost wishes that Goro did shoot him when he sees a big metal wall separate the two of them.

Akira immediately ran up to the divider and started to pound and hit it, but he knew it would be to no avail.

“Give it up Akira…” he could hear Goro faintly from the other side, “I’m beyond your saving anyway, but...can we make one more promise? Change Shido’s heart for me. I know I don’t deserve to ask after everything but-”

Akira cut him off before Goro could finish his sentence.

“I’ll do it. I’ll change his heart for you, and don’t think I’ve forgotten about our other promises too. I’ll hold on to your glove and…I’ll keep holding onto your star.”

Goro weakly laughed.

“Do you still have that. You’re a sentimental fool Akira, but I suppose that’s what I love about you.”

The gun shots that went off after that were deafening to Akira’s ears. He forgot how to breathe for too long, and he’s pretty sure he ended up collapsed on the floor with the other thieves having to drag him to the closest safe room.

He didn’t care about anything except Shido’s defeat, and after the bastard fell and Akira had gotten revenge for the both of them he went and looked at the star the Goro had given him years ago. 

Akira looked at it and laughed because it was so...Goro. The star had nothing on it but both of their initials. Akira remembered even still being thrilled with receiving it when he was a kid, but now with both the star and Goro’s glove in his hand, all he could do was hope that it was written in the universe that they would cross paths again.

Even though Akira knew it was near impossible for it to happen, he still believed that it would come true. That the promise they had made would rewrite fate and allow them another meeting.

***

When Akira had said that he wanted the universe rewritten so he and Goro could meet again, he didn’t mean it literally, and he certainly didn’t mean it like this.

“I want to hear you say it aloud. What do you intend to do regarding this fake reality.” He heard Goro ask him the question, but he couldn’t find it in himself to respond yet.

How do you choose going back to a reality where the person that you love the most is dead and one where they’re alive and you're both happy. He couldn’t. He couldn’t trade Goro’s life for reality...he just-

“Akira.” he was thrown out of his thoughts by Goro’s firm stare and harsh voice, “Don’t tell me you’re actually considering taking his deal.”

Akira still didn’t respond.

Goro let out a sigh before putting his hand into his coat pocket and pulling something out, and Akira almost couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw what was in his hands.

“Y-you still have the wish star?”

Goro looked hesitant to respond, but Akira knew his answer. The star that Akira had made for Goro was staring him right in the face with bad Featherman drawings and all.

“But...I thought you would have forgotten about it and gotten rid of after you left school.”

“I-” Goro still seemed like he was having a difficult time sharing about why he kept a sentimental piece of paper for all of these years.

“I...suppose that some part of me hoped that we would meet again whatever the circumstances may be, but more importantly let’s renew our wish, Akira. Let’s promise that whatever happens to either of use after we destroy Maruki’s false reality, we’ll find eachother again.”

“Can I change one part of our original wish, Goro? The part where we promised to be friends forever.”

Goro looked hesitant, but he gave Akira a short nod to continue.

“Can we be more than just friends? Not just as rivals, but...lovers as well?”

Goro gave an exasperated sigh before giving Akira his answer in the form of a short kiss that told Akira everything he needed to know.

“Of course. It’s a promise Akira.”

***

Akira (like many times in his life) wonders how he ended up here. It was the middle of the night yet here he was the night before he was supposed to go back home sitting under a tree in the middle of Inokashira Park. It was a nice night though, he could see all the stars in the sky, and they looked beautiful reflecting on the water in the lake. 

He could almost fall asleep here if this wasn’t a public place, and he was reminded of that important fact when he heard footsteps coming towards him. He wondered who else had found themselves in a situation similar to his, so he decided to look down the path to where the sound was coming from. 

Akira didn’t know whether or not he was in total disbelief or he totally saw this coming as he ran towards Goro under the starry sky and embraced his lover fully into his arms.

“We’re both lucky I’m stronger now, or you would have knocked me to the ground again.”

Akira only let out a small laugh before he brought Goro into a kiss that made their wait for a proper fulfilment of their promise worth all of the time they had spent wishing for it to come sooner. 

**Author's Note:**

> I fell way too in love with this idea and here I am 3,000 words later...
> 
> Later prompts will most likely be shorter just a heads up
> 
> As always thanks for reading!


End file.
